Should voting rights match a person’s legal responsibilities?
This post was written by a student. It has not been fact checked or edited.
There have been a lot of debates against and for 16-year-olds being allowed to vote. The UK says that they might allow it if a new law is passed in Parliament.
The UK government published the Representation of the People bill on February 12th, 2026. Part of this new bill will be lowering the voting age from 18 to 16, before the new general election. If Parliament agrees, around 1.5 million 16 to 17-year-olds will be able to vote for the very first time.
I am debating if I should agree with the UK government or if I should disagree. I think people should be able to vote once they reach 20-21 because if you vote when you are 16, to me, you are not responsible enough and 16 to 17-year-olds will have too much pressure to take on from school to be able to choose the right person and make sensible choices.
If a 16-year-old votes, their parents could sway them. For example, if they were choosing Obama or Donald Trump, their parents might have voted for Trump so they will persuade their child to choose the same. We do not want 16 and 17-year-olds to be persuaded.
One example that supports my opinion is that many countries have chosen to keep the voting age at 18, which is when we are given legal responsibilities. I believe it should remain this way.
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